Quinnipiac University’s School of Business has launched a center dedicated to addressing the leadership and professional needs of women and assigned a pair of staffers to run it.
The Center for Women & Business will aspire to enhance women’s business acumen, their presence in leadership and decision-making roles, and their overall experiences as professionals.
Hamden residents Rowena Ortiz-Walters, professor and chairperson of management, and Kathleen Simione, associate professor of accounting, are the center’s co-directors.
The center grew out of the university’s Business Women in Search of Excellence initiative, which was co-founded by Ortiz-Walters and Simione in 2007.
Women make up 56 percent of college students, the university said, citing the Digest of Education Statistics.
Further, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that women comprise 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce and are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.
The center’s goals include executive education, professional development, networking, professional support, mentoring and research while also establishing partnerships with the external business community.
Ortiz-Walters, who joined Quinnipiac in 2004, received a PhD in management and bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UConn and an MBA from the University of New Haven.
Simione, who joined Quinnipiac in 1989 and is co-founder of the Hamden college’s B-WISESM (Business Women in Search of Excellence), earned her MBA there and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bentley University. She holds a registered CPA certificate in Connecticut.
